Shares of Mortgage Loans in Forbearance Inch Lower in September, but Near-Term Increase Is Expected

According to the new monthly Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Loan Monitoring Survey (LMS), the total number of loans now in forbearance decreased by 3 basis points from 0.72% of servicers’ portfolio volume in the prior month to 0.69% as of September 30th, 2022. The MBA estimates that 345,000 homeowners still remain in forbearance plans.

The share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans in forbearance decreased 2 basis points to 0.30%. Ginnie Mae loans in forbearance increased by 1 basis point to 1.33%, and the forbearance share for portfolio loans and private-label securities (PLS) declined 12 basis points to 1.14%.

Providing additional background and into the September forbearance report, Marina Walsh, MBA’s Vice President of Industry Analysis, said:

“The overall number of loans in forbearance dropped in September, but the pace of forbearance exits slowed to a new survey-low and new forbearance requests continued to come in. This dynamic in turn prevented any substantial improvement in the forbearance rate. The COVID-19 federal health emergency is still in effect and in most cases, borrowers can still seek initial COVID-19 hardship forbearance.

In the near-term, the number of loans in forbearance will likely increase for another reason—the recent devastation caused by Hurricane Ian in Florida, South Carolina, and other states. MBA’s Loan Monitoring Survey request that servicers report all loans in forbearance regardless of the borrower’s stated reason—whether pandemic-related, due to a natural disaster, or another cause.”